# Does Star Trek have its "Star Wars Holiday Special"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [April 6, 2023, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247 "2023-04-06T12:55:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/61 "2023-04-06T19:06:12Z")
Most Star Wars character names were known to the public via the action figures’ packaging. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/62 "2023-04-06T19:32:13Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > Point of Pedantry: Ministry of Truth (Newspeak: Minitrue). And I deserved to be nitted. I should have checked! > [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > Which worked to their great benefit in “Spectre of the Gun”. I love that episode just for the look. I forgive the OK Corral historical inaccuracies, because the Melkot are using Kirk’s own memories, and he got it wrong. Probably every copy of Tombstone and Wyatt Earp got lost in WWIII, so no one knows any more. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2023, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/63 "2023-04-06T20:07:02Z")
I watch (or am forced to) the Riffed version of the SWHS every year for the New Year holiday. It’s a traditional for my wife and friend. It’s terrible in ways that only fuck-tons of eggnog allow me to deal with. I will say that if I look at it _by the standards of it’s day_ it’s horrible, but not UNIQUELY horrible, in comparison to the variety shows it takes it’s DNA from. As a STAR WARS vehicle though, yeah, it’s uniquely horrible. The two genres clash horribly and interact in ways that should not be. By comparison, while there are many Star Trek properties that just don’t work for me (Dr Who and other crossovers), none of them are quite that horrible a mismatch, and thus don’t rise to the standard of the SWHS. Maybe one day in the future, they did a Hollywood squares Star Trek version, or something equally horrific, then we’d have a comparison. ---
**Author:** ![ralfy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ralfy/32/600_2.png) [@ralfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralfy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2023, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/64 "2023-04-08T04:29:27Z")
For now, try _Star Trek: Discovery_ and _Picard_. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/65 "2023-04-10T13:57:17Z")
There was a prime time 30th anniversary of Star Trek special that was very corny (or “cringe” as the kids say). If you have ever seen clips or photos of the Frasier cast in star fleet uniforms, it was a skit from this special. It was supposed to be the entire cast but Kelsey Grammer entered rehab at the last minute so they had Kate Mulgrew step in as Janeway. I also remember Joan Collins asking William Shatner if he pushed her character down the stairs (they were together in the famous episode City on the Edge of Forever) and when he laughed she asked again…and again. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/66 "2023-04-10T16:01:43Z")
To paraphrase P.J. O’Rouke, Bad Star Trek things are bad _within normal parameters_ The STHS reaches a different universe of bad. Let me compare it to something else in the same medium. _The Brady Bunch_ was a bad sitcom within normal parameters. _The Brady Bunch Variety Hour_ breaks the boundaries of bad for sitcoms, variety shows, and adolescent performances of song and dance numbers. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/67 "2023-04-10T16:07:18Z")
No surprise that they shared a writer. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/68 "2023-04-11T13:16:43Z")
So 100% true. It’s the one episode I cannot bear to watch, ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2023, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247/69 "2023-04-11T18:33:10Z")
Personally; I don’t think “The Way to Eden” is as bad as its reputation. Even “Spock’s Brain” can be entertaining, if you are in an MST3K mood. “The Empath”, however, is just plain boring. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-star-trek-have-its-star-wars-holiday-special/982247.md?page=3)